Tips & Tools: Ten Giveaway Ideas to Grow Your List

Ali Brown

As a small business owner, you don’t want a website where people land, look, and leave. It used to be enough to just offer a monthly newsletter with tips and tricks to get people to sign up in seconds. But, with everyone online now, that’s not enough to cut it. These days, you have to get creative to draw people to your list, and one effective tool that works well these days is giving away something of uncommon value.

Read on for TEN types of giveaways you can host on your website to help your business stand out from the crowd:

1. Discounts or coupons. One “characteristic” of humans that crosses all socio-economic levels is: we LOVE a good deal. (Even Oprah likes “Clinique Bonus” time.) You can offer regular discounts and coupons in your ezine, particularly if your service or product is something that people use regularly such as makeup, hairstyling, massages, ink for your printer, etc.

2. Ebooks. Ebooks are still revered as an incentive to opt-in, as long as they are on a topic that your target audience really values. You need in-demand information (generally 20 pages or more), as well as a gorgeous book cover image (check out KillerCovers if you’re looking for a professional service that can help).

3. Audios. Audio with informative content is attractive to clients because they can listen to it in the car, download it to their iPod, or play it at home — wherever they learn best. Plus, they can keep listening to it as many times as they need.  You can offer an audio file as an mp3 link, but for greater impact, send them a CD with an attractive cover and case.

4. Teleclasses. Create a free teleclass on a hot topic, record it, and then offer it as a giveaway in audio and transcript form. This sets you up as an expert with whom your web visitors will want to stay in touch.

5. Gifts or Samples. Sometimes the best way to sell a product is to offer a sample (think along the lines of ice cream samples at Ben & Jerry’s or a bonbon tasting at See’s Candies). Consider giving away a “taste” of your product. This works great if your product is part of a series, because it can let them see your style, your depth of content, etc., and if they like what they see, they’ll likely want more.

6. Contests. If your product, or any part of it, is too valuable to give away, you might want to host a giveaway. An author who just self-published a hardback book, could give away a free, autographed copy on a weekly basis. Or, host a contest for a winning cover design and offer to cross promote the winning designer’s services. It’s always fun for people to see the contest winner’s names listed on the website, so make sure to add that little feature in for added incentive and legitimacy.

7. DVDs. It’s easy to create a video these days with handheld camcorders like the Flip SD, and video gives you the advantage of being able to talk directly to your audience. You could tape a live workshop or presentation you’ve already set up, where you’re speaking to a live audience, or, if you’re a little camera shy, even a PowerPoint presentation can be a great visual tool. As long as you keep the content relevant and engaging, you’ll have a great free DVD that you can mail out as a giveaway.

8. Free Reports. A report can be shorter than an ebook (less than 20 pages, usually) and you have a little more flexibility as far as formatting and voice is concerned. You could choose to follow a narrative form, which is a great way to let people in on who you are, what your story is, how you became an expert, etc. Or, you can write it as a white paper, which is a longer, more formal marketing report that uses a problem, solution, state of the industry type of format, infused with hard-researched statistics.

9. Trial Memberships. Giving a 30-day free or low-cost trial is a terrific way to give customers a sample of your unique expertise and win them over as paying clients. Just make sure that their access doesn’t give them carte blanche to months and years of material that they can download and then run.

10. Informational Series. Another freebie you can offer is a series of mini-lessons or mini-courses, which is actually a series of emails you’ve pre-written (a.k.a. “autoresponders”) that is released to the prospect on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. Let’s say, for example, you are an SEO expert. You could offer 10 mini-lessons leaking the “Top 10 Plugins for Your WordPress Blog” or 7 mini-courses summarizing the “Top 7 SEO Strategies for Driving Traffic to Your Website”.

If you want to learn how to set up your own giveaways to grow a quality list, check out my complete List Building System. It’s one giant toolkit I’ve put together for you, that lays out your list-building plan and walks you through it one step at a time.

So get the full details on my List Building System here now.

© 2011 Ali International, LLC

Millionaire entrepreneur mentor Ali Brown teaches women around the world how to start and grow profitable businesses that make a positive impact. Get her FREE CD and articles at www.AliBrown.com.